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Lady Russets prevail over Lady Broncos 52-49

BLACKFOOT — With time clicking off the clock Blackfoot junior Cerissa Honena let fly with a high arcing shot from the half court line. As the collective crowd held their breath, the ball banked off the glass, banging in and out of the basket only to fall away as the Shelley Lady Russets prevailed 52-49.
"I thought that we were heading to overtime to tell you the truth," Shelley head coach Burke Davis said. "In fact, before Honena even took the shot I told Shaun [Messick] to get ready for overtime because anytime Honena is on the court she is in range and the way she was feeling it tonight I thought for sure that she was going to make the shot."
Indeed, Honena did turn in a fine offensive night, especially in the first quarter of play where she knocked down 3 of her 4 three point baskets on the night. The junior led all scorers on the night with 21-points but in the end, those points could not hold off the Lady Russets.
"In the last two games these girls have made a goal for each game and the energy level and enthusiasm level has increase two hundred percent," Blackfoot head coach Mike Kirkham said. "These girls are starting to understand and that coupled with the enthusiasm will carry us into the tournament."
A pair of girls went for double-doubles on the evening with Blackfoots Dusti Rodriguez scoring 10-points while grabbing 12-rebounds to match Shelley senior Sadee Wattenbarger who tossed in 13-points and grabbed 10-rebounds.
While Blackfoot was bombing away from the perimeter, Shelley was making a concerted effort to attack the basket and they were rewarded by heading to the charity stripe 28 times on the evening, where they knocked down 18, including 4 of 5 in the last forty seconds of the fourth quarter.
"It was a weird game as far as the feel and a lot of that had to do with their switching of defense on us, they were able to get out a pressure us real well which got us out of our rhythm," coach Davis said. "We got a little jittery but then we took a deep breath and were able to make enough plays to get the victory."
Shelley (4-6, 2-2) will travel to Madison next Wednesday and Blackfoot (2-8, 0-4) will travel to Skyline on Saturday.